“Only tell me things that would relate to legal matters,” Mr. Fallow said. “Use your best judgment, Vera. I’ve got faith in you. And I think that the Springfield family will ultimately be very grateful for whatever you can discover.”
“I’ll do my best,” Vera said, rising from her chair. She took the envelope and put it into her bag. “Well, now to do battle with my boss!”
She was somewhat nervous about going head-to-head with BW on the ethics issue, but she felt very strongly about her integrity as a journalist. The visit to the attorney had given her the strength to uphold her convictions.
When Vera arrived at the Herald headquarters, most of the reporting staff had gone home for the day. But the printers were running and several hares minded the process to ensure that each copy would emerge clear and readable for the subscribers.
She headed for BW’s well-appointed office. The eternally busy skunk waved Vera in when he saw her in the half-opened door. She sat down in the visitor’s chair, clutching the letter from Mr. Fallow in her paw.
“Hullo there, Vera,” her boss said breezily. “Say, where are we on the election coverage? This race for chief of police is really going to heat up. We could use an inside creature for our coverage.” He was clearly hoping that she’d either forgotten her earlier misgivings, or simply didn’t have the energy to fight him.
However, Vera was not a fox who rolled over. She cleared her throat and then spoke up. “It’s not something that I feel comfortable with, BW. I think that it’s important for the integrity of the paper, as well as my own personal ethics, that I not be involved with the election coverage.” She continued on without even taking a breath. If Vera stopped talking, BW would jump in and argue with her. She wanted to get all her points made while she had the floor. “I am working on another article, but I’m not ready to talk about it just yet. Also, I don’t think there’s a story there with that Springfield rat over at Mirror Lake. Just a minor spat between a married couple. No need to put any reporter on it, other than me, that is.”
Finally, Vera presented the letter from Fallow. BW took it, read through it with his face and snout scrunching up in annoyance, and then tossed it on his desk. Vera leaned casually in her chair as she waited for the skunk’s response.
“Huh,” he said at last. “Advice of counsel, eh?”
“Indeed,” she confirmed.
“Well. I certainly don’t want to do anything actionable,” he said, sounding wounded, as if Vera had gravely insulted his honor. “I still think that the election coverage would be fantastic with you covering the story, but I respect your ethics, Vixen. I also trust your reporter instincts. If you’re not ready to wow me with this story that you’re working on, get your tail over to the police station first thing tomorrow and check out the blotter for a juicy crime story. You can still talk to Deputy Orville about that, can’t you?”
This last remark was delivered in an acerbic tone, and Vera almost snapped back. However, she decided to quit while she was ahead. She had gotten what she wanted from Stone, and she did not want to upset the apple cart.
* * * *
The next day dawned pink and rosy, with a light mist clinging to the ground. Vera twined a long wool scarf around her neck before leaving her house, enjoying the way the tartan pattern complemented the red tones in her coat.
It was so early that very few creatures were out and about yet. Which was good, since she had made an appointment with Lefty at the park to hear the results of his nighttime adventure in Mirror Lake. Vera would rather that the general citizenry not be aware of the fact that she employed Lefty as a “fact finder.”
She was pleased to see that the raccoon was waiting for her in the agreed upon place. He looked somewhat worn out, and Vera guessed that he had been up all night—it was pretty much bedtime for him. Lefty gave her a wave as she crossed the park to where he was waiting.
“Hey there, Miss Vixen,” said Lefty. “I’ve got a full report for you. First of all, I didn’t see no blood under the carpet, but it was super clean and smelled like bleach, so I’m guessing that the rat did a major cleanup. But for all I know it might be spilled ink, or strawberry jam that he cleaned up. Who knows?
“Anyway, I snooped around the first floor for a bit, but Edward almost caught me when he came downstairs for a midnight snack. I saw him in the kitchen making himself a peanut butter sandwich. When it looked like he wasn’t going back upstairs to bed, I decided to slip out one of the windows in the living room while he was in the kitchen. I got away clean…er, except I might have broken a lamp on my way out.”
“Might have?” Vera prodded.
“Ok, I did break a lamp. Edward shouted who’s there and came running into the living room, but by then I had gotten out. I waited until the rat was on the other side of the house, and then I made a run for it to the trees on the neighboring lot, and I booked it all the way back to Shady Hollow.”
“Hmm.” Vera didn’t like this development. “That means he knows some creature was in his house.”
Lefty waved it off. “Sure, but he didn’t see me, so he can’t pin anything on us. I’m sure of it.”
“I trust you, Lefty,” she said, which were words that had probably never been spoken in that order before. Vera gave him an envelope with his payment in it. “Maybe this is fine. After all, it won’t do any
